any way to setup a specific bot to start first

[PlayerEmers]

in my case, i want my main bot to start first before anyone else (for handling trades/accept stuff as soon as possible)

[Rudokhvist]

Well, if I remember it right, ASF process bots alphabetically, but it won't help you, because process is asynchronous and depends on steam response, so even if we started the bot first - it may actually connect last, because steam was slow to respond to this particular request.
TL;DR: NO.

[Archi]

Not possible in deterministic way because each bot is independent and the process is asynchronous. This is because Bot2 should not wait with connection just because Bot1 has huge database attached to it which loads slowly.

Allowing such logic would cause a possibility where other bots will not start properly purely because e.g. first bot will not connect, uses wrong password combo or for any other reason. You can always code yourself a plugin which will start your other bots after the main connects if you want to, but it's not planned to have anything like that in ASF core.

Waiting up to two minutes in unlikely case for other 1-9 bots to connect should not be a big issue.

[PlayerEmers]

thank you